Pecan Pie Cookies

In case no one ever told you, pecan pie is the best Thanksgiving pie. 

& if you disagree, you probably just haven’t had a proper one so may I introduce you to my corn syrup-free Caramel Pecan Pie?! She’s amazing. 

That said, I turned pecan pie into an idea, not just a dessert, so now we have pecan pie bars, pecan pie brownies, chocolate pecan pie and the list goes on. 

However, I was missing cookies – and if you have salted caramel sauce on hand, you can use that as a little cheat too (see below!).

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

• Flour – I use all-purpose flour but have also tested with cake flour and bread flour and it works well with either. Please use a digital scale to measure the flour though!
• Sugar – I used light brown sugar; you could do half granulated and half dark brown if you want or all dark brown but I would not do all granulated.
• Butter – I love salted butter for cookies and caramel. The higher quality, European style butters also brown a lot nicer. 

The Details

There are two parts to this cookie:

1. Brown Butter – I did brown the butter for both the cookie and filling because I just can’t help it, it’s so good. I did it separately just to make sure the each part got the right amount of liquid and solids. Scrape the pan out well when browning it for the cookies, then just brown some more for the topping and then add in the rest of the ingredients to the pot.
2. Brown Sugar Cookie Dough – you might be familiar with this one – it’s my favorite cookie dough recipe.
3. Pecan Pie Topping – there are two ways to make this, I’ll explain below – they’re both simple but it’s just whatever is more convenient to you. 

Brown Sugar Cookie Dough 

1. For the Brown Butter: In a small pot, over medium heat, brown the butter for 5-10 minutes, stirring intermittently until it begins to bubble and foam. Stir continuously until you see the milk solids browning and settling on the bottom. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes.
2. Place the light brown sugar into a medium-large bowl and add the butter and stir aggressively to cool the butter a little more. 
3. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture and whisk aggressively for 2-3 minutes. You want the batter to lighten in color and get kind of fluffy and ribbon on the whisk when you lift it.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and switch to a rubber spatula to fold the flour into the cookie dough just until there are no more streaks of flour.
5. Freeze cookie dough for at least 15-30 minutes, or refrigerate for a little longer, so that the batter becomes scoop-able and not runny.
6. Scoop eight 2ish ounce cookies and place at least two inches apart on a cookie sheet (they spread a good amount).
7. Refrigerate or freeze after scooping to let the dough firm up a little more, about 15 minutes. This step makes it so the cookies don’t spread too much. If you’re struggling with that, definitely chill longer here.
8. Bake one sheet on the middle rack for 8ish minutes. Then remove from the oven for a second, bang the pan on the counter lightly and use a round biscuit cutter to scoot them around so they’re round.
9. Return to the oven for another 4ish minutes, just until the edges are starting to brown and repeat the bang and scoot. 
10. Before they cool completely, use the bottom of a tablespoon to create a well in the center of the cookie. I just press down and move in a circular motion until the edges are more raised than the center. 
11. Allow them to cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes and sprinkle with flakey sea salt!

Pecan Pie Topping

There’s two ways to make this. IF you have salted caramel on hand, you could simply just chop the pecans small and fold them into some homemade salted caramel sauce (not store-bought), the same way I did for my Chocolate Turtle Cake. 

But if you don’t have caramel sauce on hand, you can make this simple version I put in the recipe. 

1. Place the butter in a small saucepan, over medium-low heat and cook until it’s browned just like we did for the cookies. 
2. Once it’s browned, immediately add the sugar and heavy cream and heat for another 1-2 minutes, just until the sugar is fully dissolved. 
3. Remove from the heat, add in the vanilla and the chopped pecans and mix to combine. 
4. Allow the mixture to cool for a little (but not fully set) before spooning on top of the cookies. 
5. Allow the mixture to set completely on the cookies before serving. 

Serving & Storage

I wait until the cookies have cooled a bit to top them with the pecan topping. 

You can serve it fresh, right away but it can get a little messy to eat so  I like to let the topping fully set as well. It’ll firm up/dry out a bit and not be runny on top of the cookie after it sets completely so they are totally stackable and easy to transport.

They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days or refrigerated or frozen for longer. 

I hope you love these cookies, if you make them I would love it if you left me a star rating or review! 

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B